How To Stay Healthy When Getting In Shape (And Sculpting Your Arms)

The fastest results require the hardest levels of effort. If you really want your body to change you have to keep on pushing the envelope to prevent adaptation.

Unfortunately, the female body can only take so much before it starts to break down. And a single bout of sickness can set you back for weeks.

So here is a quick guide on how to stay healthy when you are training hard:

1. Don’t exclude food groups: If you stop eating fat, your body will stop producing fat burning hormones. If you stop eating carbs, you will not be able to recover properly from training and your mood will deteriorate. If you are pushing your body to the limit, it’s essential that you get a full spectrum of nutrition.

2. Don’t lose too much too quickly: If the weight is flying off you are most likely losing a lot of muscle. And in most cases extreme rates of weight loss are NOT sustainable. Now even if you could sustain it, would you really want to end up with a body that has little toned and tight muscle?

3. Keep everything clean: Even though you don’t feel it, your body is always fighting off invading organisms and infection. Poor hygiene can place an extra burden on your immune system. So make sure you stay ultra clean when training hard so that your body has one less thing to deal with.

4. Get a flu shot: They don’t hurt, they’re cheap and they can save you weeks of pain. Also, keep in mind that sickness usually leads to a loss of muscle mass. And recall that reduced muscle mass translates into less calories burned even while you sleep.

5. Eat before training: Some fitness “experts” still recommend training on an empty stomach to lose more fat. Unfortunately, not only does exercise on empty sky rocket levels of stress hormones, but it also limits the amount of fat you burn.

6. Have a liquid meal immediately after your last exercise: This is really the only time you should consider taking a supplement. The main benefit here is a heightened opportunity to restock your muscle’s energy supply of carbohydrates and to bring down levels of damaging stress hormones.

7. Don’t train through sickness: Even if the symptoms are mild you are much better off resting and only doing light activity to maintain blood flow. You see, your body can take on a limited number of stressors. If you mix heavy training with mild sickness, you could end up on the sidelines for a very long time.

Getting sick while trying to sculpt and tone your arms is extremely de-motivating. Not only does it decrease your metabolism, but it also interrupts your rhythm of progress. So make sure you stay healthy while you reach your sexy arm goal!